"Baltanthan, your stuff upstairs is making noise." someone tells me in a passing motion. Looking up from my tablet, I glance over towards the kitchen clock.

"Oh, right, Ioike's call." I go, forcing myself up onto my feet and fighting off the aches and bruises. I've been through worse but after a while, even the little things can become a bother. Thankfully, I suppose, Liadanann showed me an easy way to get past and over such hindrances. If only the Academy's on-site shops sold stronger drinks, something with real concentration.

My hand touches the end of the handrail and I head up the stairs, shifting to the side when some of the girls happen to be coming down as well. While it is otherwise impossible to escape the noises of those who live here, my room is becoming easier to hear. The fact my door has been opened as well means I can see the little flash of light coming from the device. I close the door behind me and bring up a chair, punching in what keys I need to.

A screen comes to life and I am immediately met with a pair of glasses and a certain nose right up against their end of the call. Shaking my head a little, I wait for Ioike's muttering and so-called technical expertise to come to an end. She spots me and she seems to forget which expression she wants to use. Miserable or joyful, a smile or a frown and even a glare.

"Ioike." I go firmly and she snaps to attention in her seat, a nervous tick in one of her hands as she settles on a smile.

"You're minutes late, Baltanthan." she chastises with a slight smile before she looks away, a hand curling around a backline of hair. It's probably the only spot of that brown mop with any semblance of care.

"I was reading." I explain, showing the tablet I have before I then put it down on a nearby box so I don't hear the end of it. She complains so easily if I am not paying attention but here she is without a speck of focus about her. I think I've seen her cheeks more than her eyes throughout all the years of my life. Those palm-pressed cheeks of hers, always on a hand to stop her from falling asleep.

"What were you reading?" she asks, leaning up against her screen as if it will help her peek over me. To play into it a little, I lean away to the side and then straighten up.

"I was re-" I start to answer and her mouth opens up to unleash a barrage of noises that want to be words but just don't have what it takes.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! I haven't told you yet, we made a new discovery about the-"

"Necro-Titans." I interrupt with her least favourite word. Revenge has never been easier.

"THEY'RE NOT- They're not called that... I've told you this before..." she goes off on, quickly simmering out into mopey face rubbing and pitchy whining. I huff, smiling a little as a pout starts to form on her face. There we go, she knows what I am doing!

"So what is it you found, Ioike?" I ask, getting us past this hiccup and getting her mind to focus on something else. Her head snaps about, hands slapping whatever they can find until she pulls out a stack of notetablets. Each one likely filled to its enchanted brim with excessive, repeated ramblings of such small topics. Thankfully, despite how out of control she gets when writing, she knows how to explain the actually important stuff.

Gods am I glad she can or I'd never get out of these calls...

Admittedly, they can be entertaining at times.

"I... We... We here at the dig site, we believe that we have found the proper proof needed to name the contents of the dig." she tells me, shaking and trembling at how exciting this must be for her. I smile a little, trying to show that same enthusiasm even though she's forgotten to actually elaborate on it.

"Which is?" I ask, rolling a hand to jog her memory and she watches me with a twitching, uncertain expression.

"Didn't I just...? No, I didn't. No... Oh, the name of the contents, it's called Atarifuge, we've found Atarifuge!" she exclaims and I nod along, my mind briefly trying to recall which member of the Pack of Seven that Atarifuge is. Thing is, I don't think she's ever told me why these giant machines are named after the dead-searching animals. Just seems like such a strange thing to name giant machines after something to do with Undwote rather than say, Sraacdchammu, God of Giants.

"So does that mean it was likely Atarifuge that was at the centre of that aelenvari genocide?" I ask and she scoffs.

"Patricide." she corrects with her usual unintentional condescension. Yet, even with my years of tolerance to it and my knowing it's not intentional, it still irks me just ever so slightly. Over something so petty, eugh.

"Right, patricide, genocide, filicide, matricide blah blah blah." I dismiss, rolling all the 'cides off of my tongue until my head ends on cider. Hm, maybe I should see if I can get any cider within Thrurstradtur? Surely it will be stronger than the stuff within Suhurlodst's stock.

"You blah and blah, Baltanthan, but this is a serious discovery! With this, we might possibly lead into something that will allow us to reverse the effects still affecting the majority of aelenvari peoples." she tells me and I can't help but focus on that ending detail.

"Remind me, why can't this problem be solved by talking and experimenting or something on those living near the capital of the Seven-Peaks Union?" I question and she seems to turn off, her area of expertise being dirty things in the ground, not biology and magic.

"I mean... If the solution was with them, it would have been implemented, no? The aelenvari aren't a military powerhouse of any kind, they're nomads with well-known homes at this point. So, that must mean seeing as there's no politics getting in the way that the Moonlit Plains are not the solution. Thus, it is here, surely!" she rambles and I nod along with what I can pick up.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"If you have any aelenvari in that club of yours, why not get them to offer themselves up for whatever you can manage?"

"I don't think we can do anything like that with brushes and chisels." she mutters into a giggle. I smile a little and glance out the window for a second.

"So, are you making sure not to spend all your time within that dusty old mountain?" I make sure to ask as she seems a little paler than usual.

"Yeah, I've gone out to some of the nearby Ravineer towns and mountain-states, supplies, you know. Sometimes, as well, I like to ask about and see if there's any folklore about problems in these parts. But, there's nothing that seems to go beyond a thousand years, oddly enough. Maybe I am not asking the right people...?" she explains and I reach for one of her notetablets that she left here.

"So, anything to add to your theories regarding when the Patricide happened? You sort of waffled on in this with a lot of uncertainty if it started in the Waters Receeded period or after the Emerald Awakening." I point out, only recalling the historical time periods because of how often she's muttering at this here desk in the early morning.

"Truth be told, I'm still not sure, the dig site is laced with what we have taken to calling 'chronal-forged glass' for the moment. It all seems very Ancient Jherikra, you know, Pre-Flood technology. But, there is no evidence of the aelenvari existing before the Time of Liquid Mountains, not that I know of anyway. And, well, without them, it makes no sense that this is Atarifuge and I really want it to be!" she explains, her head slowing down with the upsetting ignorance of the situation. However, it more than picks up with her passion for discovery.

We both go quiet and she starts to fiddle with some tools, her eyes darting about.

"So, uh, Baltanthan, how have things been on your end? Is the set of robes I suggested working out?" she asks and I frown, thinking back to Liadanann's reaction to it. I spin my chair slightly, turning to the still-sealed box and I rub my arm a little. A small scab barely avoids the urge to pick at it.

"Others don't seem to like it. They're concerned about how dangerous it is for my health." I think I am getting right.

"Progress is built on suffering! I don't go out much and am often filthy, but it's all worth it at the end of the day!" she tries to argue and I shake my head.

"The suffering we feel and experience is only because of what we choose, Ioike." I remind her, thinking about Nin and how he's gotten so strong. I've been getting stronger since I first arrived at Suhurlodst, sure, but, he's taken it so much further. All because he's been willing for five years to sacrifice it all. Ioike's words have merit, with pain comes reward, but, a line has to be drawn somewhere.

Again, like with Nin, you will lose it all seeking something in such an extreme manner.

"Well, you should listen to me more. I am really smart, you know. I wouldn't be in this dig if I wasn't!" she tries to reassure me in her own strange little way and I shake away my mix of bemuse and amusement.

"I think I just need time to figure things out. There's a lot I have to make sure I am able to do when it comes to this Exceptional House entrance exam." I tell her, briefly hiding my eyes under my hands. The weight they hold is more so emotional, but, to move them, my head is needed.

"I don't want you to pass..." she mutters a little too loudly and I look up with an eye almost as stinky as she is.

"Hmmmmm?" I go with a distinct tinge of aggressive loudness.

"I mean, I don't want you to be unhappy, I like seeing you happy. I just, don't want you to go. If you join Exceptional House then I'll lose my friend..." she nearly cries and I can't help but laugh.

"You idiot." I state without a break in my straight features.

"I'm not!" she snaps back, wiping her eyes on a dirt-specked sleeve.

"Yes you are! Just because I move to Exceptional House doesn't mean we still can't talk to each other. Gods bear my frustration, there's nothing stopping us from just meeting up either whenever you're back here on Academy grounds."

"Oh, of course..." she realises with a final sniffle before she gets a grain in her eye. She flinches and initially tries to take it out manually. Thankfully for her, I suppose, she was already crying a little so the eye doesn't need to water up too much.

"So, yeah, anyway, nothing else is really going on with me. Are you sure you've talked enough about your dig?" I say, getting us back on track as she's not said as much as I thought she would.

"There were talks recently about reducing the amount of security we have here." she recalls and I raise a brow.

"They want to reduce the amount of guards present at an isolated dig site?" I question, unable to grasp the context even in the slightest. Oddly enough, as well, she seems rather calm at the idea of it.

"Well, the first thing that led us to this dig site was the odd lack of reports regarding osibindah activity. You talk to some of the people here and half of them can't even tell you what one is. There's not much on it, but, we have records regarding something they call a Pestilence? Oh, and the skull-beetles, they're around here a lot. Oh, look, here's one right now." she tells me, her fingers picking up the oddly safe-to-handle insect before she then puts it right back.

"How is your hand not messed up?" I quickly throw out and she shrugs before swatting away what must be another one.

"They act differently here, none of that strange magic. I think this might be their home. It's a little off though, considering they're just insects. They have no signs of heritage from either humans or dragons so such complex thoughts shouldn't really apply." she explains and I return the shrug as I am of no use to her if she wants answers for these kinds of things.

"But, well, still, does the lack of security not concern anyone? There's more to this world than just osibindah. You got animals like a sadroobell looking for things to champion themselves with an just people in general." I ask her and she shakes her head.

"No, I've had some conversations with the others and they all seem fine with it as well. We've had no problems that have needed us to call in anyone and at worst we just have to deal with someone sneaking into the dig. But even that's just a formality at this point as there are no artefacts to steal. We've just been digging out what must be Atarifuge's tomb, for lack of a better word." she explains to me and I think a little about what she said about the lack of osibindah. Such a weird topic these days, given I am friends with one. I glance down a little and spot a box and am reminded of something.

"Oh, Ioike, I nearly forgot, you had a delivery come not that long ago. It seems to be one of the tools you need." I tell her, the recalled memory even coming with a phantom weight in my hand.

"My magnifier came? Aw... I can't go back and collect it... We're all the way down here in the south, almost right up against those foreign colonies." she complains and I almost want to chastise her for ordering a tool and having it delivered here. Especially when it's probably for her dig.

"I might be getting a job outside of Suhurlodst soon, maybe I can deliver it to you?" I suggest though I am not being entirely honest here. I have no idea if the next time the Grandguard comes by that I will even be able to tag along. Let alone head that far south!

"Will you!? THANK YOU THANK YOU!" she cheers with a smile potent enough to leave her cheeks rosy even through the filter of mud and screen. I smile back, even with my knowings gnawing away at the back of my head.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do what I can, how far south are you? Furthest I've ever been is along the Segaansallis Line when the Inter-House Talent Display congratulation parties happen." I explain and her expression lights up for the wrong reasons.

"Oh... So cool, you've seen Segaansallis so often and I have not even caught an actual glance of it once in person!" she complains and I huff with a quick head shake.

"Ioike." I go, watching her carefully as she gets her focus back.